Felt the need to make mention of this. In the past CoachJT has been moderating this forum and I have recently been asked to. Don't know if I like that responsibility or not but will give it a shot. What I want to say is my belief in the moderation of the forum. First it is a Kids Folkstyle Forum. For those that know me you know that I don't mind having a little fun, and actually think there is a place for some good ol satire and enjoyment. I also believe that we have a responsibility to follow guidelines and I am in the middle of learning those guidelines regarding forum moderation. One of the things I know right off the bat though is that calling out a kid by name in a negative manner is out of bounds, especially when done by name. There is actually a good piece of advice in the Bible that I need to live better by myself, that is; “If you can’t say something good about someone don’t say anything at all.” That being said when negative comments about a specific child are made, I will likely delete those posts.
Now that being said does that mean that you can't criticize? The answer is no. I believe that situations, coaches, and clubs depending on the situation are within bounds, but children are not. I also believe it is possible to describe situations without mentioning anyone and be within the rules of the forum and that for all ages that is a good rule to follow. An example here could include a recent post that mentioned a child being bitten and why the child doing the biting was allowed to continue. There was also a recent post mentioning several rules violations of a specific child, again, bring up the situation, those issues are legitimate, but remember we are talking about minor children not adults in these situations. Now if you see an adult or coach misbehaving, that is something I will have to evaluate the rules of the forum on, I am not yet to that page of directions on being a forum moderator yet and I have a lot to learn. I do know that sometimes life gives you guidelines or rules, and that a part of my responsibility is to learn those and abide by them, even though I may not agree with them. If I were to choose to violate those, which may happen at times in life, then I must be willing to accept the consequences of that violation. I will say this, this weekend at state, I had one individual tell me that if it were up to them they would do away with the forum all together because it gets to personal and out of bounds at times. I’m not saying I agree with that comment, but that there are those who do and as a result we have an obligation to respect the rules of the forum. If one don’t I guess they could start their own Kansas wrestling forum, shucks the link to that site would be an appropriate post.
All of that being said, lets find positive ways to promote the sport, which may at times include bringing out the negative behaviors, but hopefully at the same time respecting the minor, (underage) children, even though some of them may have obviously learned bad behavior from their parents. Thanks
